MOTOGP ITALY
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JORGELorenzoclaimedonlyhisthird
win of the season at Misano, breaking
a run of three in a row by title leader
Casey Stoner ... and added a fillip to
the championship battle as the Australian
dropped away to third behind his Repsol
Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa.
The result was not expected. Stoner had
claimed pole, and though it was Lorenzo’s
Yamaha leading from the first corner, the
Australian stayed in his wheeltracks. It seemed
only a matter of time before he would pounce.
What nobody knew was that he was already
exhausted before the race began, suffering
such severe jet lag after the race in the USA the
previous weekend that he had not slept for the
first three nights home. Halfway through the
race, it hit him hard.
“I felt confident at the start, and as it wore on
the bike was working well. But I got really tired.
I was running wide, and I had to brake earlier,
and that spoiled my lap time,” he said after the
race, obviously physically spent.
It meant Pedrosa caught up rapidly, and
went steaming straight by.
Lorenzo was jubilant after a display of mental
and physical strength, running fast laps with
clockwork consistency. He finished 7.3 seconds
ahead, with a new lap record in the bag.
“From the start I tried to open a gap ... but it
was impossible. At the halfway point I thought
I would push a little more, and then if I couldn’t
get away from Casey I would let him go. But
I saw the gap start to open a little, and then
more quickly.”
The race had started under white “Wet Race”
flags, after a few drops fell from a humid sky. It
made the first laps nervy, but never came to
anything.
Lorenzo led away, accompanied by Stoner,
with Pedrosa slotting into third, but losing
ground at once – a second adrift after eight
laps. “We made a change to the front forks, but
it worked the other way.” Especially with a full
tank, “I kept closing the front, and I was also
spinning a lot off the line. I was lucky not to
get passed,” he said. “Then it became a little
better, and I could focus on riding.”
A crowd of 53,140 fans, most here to see
local hero Rossi, were to have hopes for a
miracle dashed, although the Marlboro
Ducati rider did far exceed his qualifying
position of 11th, finishing the first lap sixth.
Soon he was embroiled in what became
a four-way battle for fourth, as Ben Spies
(Yamaha) closed up by half distance on Rossi,
Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Marco
Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda).
With 12 laps left, he was at the back of
the quartet, and soon after dropping away,
sliding too much to keep the pace.
“I am quite happy. This is one of the good
races for us this year,” he said. “This morning
we made a change to the front, and it had
better grip so I could push more. I had a great
start, and for the first 18 laps I could stay with
my best time of yesterday. This is a good target
for us at the moment.”
This left a trio for a desperate last-lap fight,
with old rivals Simoncelli and Dovizioso
pushing and lunging, and Spies nosing
between them trying to take advantage. At
the end, a forceful Simoncelli managed to
hold off the factory Honda by less than four
hundredths, with Spies seven tenths behind.
Rossi was seventh; Alvaro Bautista (Rizla
Suzuki) another seven seconds away, having
fought off an attack from Cal Crutchlow
(Monster Tech 3 Yamaha) and then overtaken
the Briton’s fading team-mate Colin Edwards.
Crutchlow narrowly failed to save ninth from
closing slow starter Hector Barbera (Mapfre
Ducati). Hiro Aoyama (San Carlo Honda) had
stuck with Barbera for a close 11th, with Karel
Abraham (AB Cardio Ducati) closing to within
a second.
Edwards was 13th; Randy de Puniet (Pramac
Ducati) a distant 14th, then an even more
remote Toni Elias (LCR Honda).
Nicky Hayden (Marlboro Ducati) crashed
out on lap three; a disgruntled Loris Capirossi
pitted from last to retire, unable to find grip on
his Pramac Ducati.
Stoner’s lead is still 35 points, with 259 to
Lorenzo’s 224. Dovizioso has 185, Pedrosa
150, with Spies (135) fifth, two points ahead
of Rossi.
Dani Pedrosa came on late in the
race to be the first Honda home
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